Money, money, money
The theme of this year’s NHS Confederation conference was money; or rather the coming lack of it. Lyn Whitfield reports.
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Confed: future ‘unprecedentedly difficult’
The NHS Confederation has warned that the health service is facing a £15 billion shortfall from 2010-11 and changed ways of working will be needed to cope.
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No cuts, but low growth in budget
Chancellor Alastair Darling has told the Commons that the government does not plan to “cut” its way out of recession while delivering a budget that promises low spending growth and big demands for efficiency savings from the public sector.
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CfH underspent by £828m over three years
Delays in implementations and delivery of systems under the National Programme for IT over the last three years means that Connecting for Health has underspent by £828m on its original capital and revenue budgets, health minister Ben Bradshaw has revealed. The majority of the underspend occurred in the last financial year, when CfH spent just […]
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NHS budget to reach £110 billion by 2011
The NHS is to receive an increased budget from £90 billion this year to £110 billion by 2010-11, an increase of 4%, the Chancellor announced on Tuesday. The additional investment should help the service realise savings of around £8.2 billion by 2010–11 with new technology helping to contribute to this. A £100m innovation fund is […]
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NHS ICT spend set to hit £2.9bn
The total spend on Information and Communications Technology in the NHS is set to hit £2.9bn in 2007/8 according to figures contained in a new report on NHS investment for the King’s Fund. Our Future Health Secured, authored by ex-NatWest boss Sir Derek Wanless, states that ICT spending in the NHS, combining both local and […]
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Brown plays a safe hand with electronic scripts
The chancellor Gordon Brown has called for more electronic prescriptions to be issued in the NHS, as part of his campaign to be the next leader of the Labour Party. Brown, the favourite to win the leadership contest, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday that there needed to be “more electronic prescriptions so […]
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A few billion between friends?
After a week of headlines about implementation costs for the NHS IT modernisation programme E-Health Insider takes a rain check on understanding of this key issue.
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NPfIT refutes claims on unforeseen costs
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) last night issued a lengthy statement refuting claims that it will generate billions of pounds worth of unforeseen costs. The programme said it has always made it clear that it would be spending up to 4% of the NHS budget, in line with recommendations in the Wanless Review. The […]
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Treasury plans £6.8bn NHS savings through IT
Today’s Gershon report, “Releasing resources to the front line: Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency", has said that IT reform is critical to the NHS achieving its target of saving of £6.8bn by 2008. The report was published on the same day that Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the Treasury’s 2004 spending review in Parliament, which […]
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